One of the lost ones
by Yersi Fanel
Summary: Bluebird's Illusion. Pride, Ed as a Homunculus, has to kill the head of a military investigation, but when he found this person, the things get complicate.


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Disclaimer: Full Metal Alchemist: Bluebird's Illusion doesn't belong to me. 

Summary: Pride has to kill the head of a military investigation, but when he found this personas, the things get complicate.

"One of the lost ones"

By Yersi Fanel  
Beta, Chiharu Octavia

Homunculus, those who live forever without a soul, those ones who die and came back, becoming something unnatural, a forbidding thing…

A sin.

He was the youngest of them, even thinking he looked older than one of his brothers, though technically, he wasn't.

Blond hair, golden eyes, his body was marked with tattoos, and the symbol on his right shoulder was what clamed him as a homunculus. His name was Pride.

The boy looked at the dark sky with his dead eyes and the wind moved his hair. A new presence appeared before him.

"Yo, Chibi, time go back," the voice said.

Pride looked at him, at the amethyst eyes and that sick smile. "Envy," he said, almost in a dead voice.

The sin looked at him and blinked a couple of times. "What?"

"What is a sin?" the boy asked, looking back to the floor. "Am I a sin?"

"What a stupid question! Really, Pride, you need to stop doing that. It's annoying," Envy answered, then look at the scythe between Pride's hands. It was dripping blood, the bodies on the floor already cold, and his life was just a memory. Two men, wearing the army's uniform.

"They call me _sin_, then scream and I said nothing. Father said that they would scream, their voices… I don't like them"

"Humans scream a lot," Envy commented, smiling for himself.

"She didn't," Pride added.

"Who?" Envy walked nearer to him. A little girl with black short hair and blue eyes was sitting on the floor in front of the bodies, hugging a teddy bear, breathing slowly. "Why she is still alive?" the older sin asked, a little angry.

"Father said nothing about her, and she's not screaming," Pride answered like it was nothing. "She was not supposed to be here."

Envy sighed and walked away, looking over his shoulder. "Like I said, time to go, Chibi."

Pride was about to go when the little girl took hold of his skirt. The blond looked quizzically at her. "What?"

"They were going to take me to my parents."

"So? They were my target, Father said so."

"Here." The girl handed her teddy bear to him. "Mother saids that a sin is something bad, an action, but you are a person, you have a name." The girl turned her back at him. "I'll go back home now."

Pride took the bear and watched the girl as she went down the road. "Name? My name is Pride…" The blond looked the bear in his hand and then the sky. "…right?"

-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --

A dark path was always the scenery of his dreams, Pride walked through it like always, nothing new in it, dark trees, dead flowers, nothing in special.

But then he saw something new, near him, on the floor. A book; and a sunflower, a very alive one, was between two pages.

Pride knelt in front of it and took the book in his hands. The sunflower was alive, but it was starting to wither and for some reason, that concerned him.

"But this is only a dream, and this flower means nothing," he said out loud, closing the book.

__

"Sunflower, do I look like a girl to you!" shouted a voice. Pride look around, surprised. It sounded like his voice talking.

__

"Your hair is that color, so are your eyes, so I think I'll call you Full Metal Sunflower from now on," said another voice, deeper, filled with amusement. _"Little Full Metal Sunflower."_

__

"I'm not little!" the first voice snapped. _"Nor a sunflower!"_

__

"Sunflower, sunflower, little sunflower," repeated the second voice, very, very amused.

__

"Quit it…" growled the first voice.

Pride blinked. Although the second voice was bothering the first one, the one that sounded like his, the first voice was not really angry; rather, it sounded almost happy…

"I want to wake up now."

-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --

When Pride opened his eyes, he found the teddy bear of that girl close to his chest. The sin sat up and looked into the bear's black eyes.

"You don't have a name, either." He looked up, the broken mirror in front of his bed reflecting his image: golden hair, and golden eyes. "Sunflower color…" Pride stroked the teddy bear and finally ripped it, dropping the now broken toy to the floor.

"I hate to dream."

The door opened and Pride looked at the silhouette supporting itself on the doorframe, the purple eyes and that smirk.

"Having bad dreams, Chibi?" Envy asked, almost at the point of laughing at him.

"Dreams, useless images created by our brain to kill time while we sleep," he answered flatly.

Envy made an annoying sound. "Father wants to see you."

"What's the reason?" the blond asked, standing up.

"I don't know, I don't care, just go before I get more bored and want hit something – _or_ someone," he said, smirking and shooting a dangerous looks at Pride.

The young homunculi passed Envy and went directly to the hall that lead to his Father's room. The boy entered the place, that large, cold and lifeless room, with the man resting in his throne at the end, attached to so many wires and other things, giving him the power to stop his body from dying.

"Father, I'm here," the sin said out loud. His father, his creator, looked at him.

"Pride, my perfect son…" he said. "I have a mission for you."

"What I have to do, Father?" The blond came closer to the throne.

"Those dogs of the government had been sending people to investigate something near this place, and I want them to stop… so I need you to kill the head of the investigation."

"Yes, Father." Kill someone, that was easy. "Who is this person?"

"That's the interesting part Pride. I don't know. You'll have to look for him."

"Yes, Father."

-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --

Riza Hawkeye read the report in her hands, but constantly watched the man in front of her. He was sitting in his comfortable chair behind the desk, talking on the phone.

"We're doing everything we can, even though a lot of the men send to that place have returned wounded… and others have not returned. It's always the same, wounds made with something very sharp…" The man glanced at her. "Could you stop doing that?" he asked.

"Colonel, you should be resting, you were almost dead when we found you," she said at last.

Roy Mustang blinked and the let out a sigh.

"I'll call you if I have more information," he said to the person on the end of the phone line and then ended the conversation.

"Colonel…"

"You are right, I was almost killed with Alphonse. But I'm not dead, nor is he boy, and I don't want any of you guys to act as if I was," he said, eyes angry. "Understood?"

"You are doing this because Ed's still missing, right?" She looked at the floor. "Al wants his brother to return and you want to find him, but it had been a long time since…"

"He _has_ to be alive" The colonel almost screamed at her. "Edward Elric doesn't have the right to die before me"

Hawkeye said nothing after that, just read the report while Roy made other calls and wrote some things on paper.

Roy Mustang was the head of the investigation, but he was still weak from the incidents of the past month.

__

A month already, where are you, stupid full metal sunflower? Roy tightened his fists and hit the desk before closing his eyes.

-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --

Pride fingered a little of the blood that was dripping from the scythe and looked at the dead body of the man in military uniform at his feet. Extracting the information had been easy. Now he had a name, a target.

"Roy Mustang…" The homunculi dismissed his scythe and jump to start his search, running on the roofs of the city.

The name was totally strange, yet familiar.

But he had to keep that to himself. If he asked Envy about that, the older sin would just laugh at him, maybe beat him for being naïve and caring about something so trivial. Envy always said that Pride need a lot of more training in every subject possible. Pride was sure that what the sin really wanted was to get under his skirt and shorts.

Pride had not just a name but also a direction and was coming to that place. He wanted to go back and search a little about dreams, maybe how to stop them.

"Just kill the man and come back, that's what Father said."

Pride arrived at the house, but it was empty. Probably the colonel was still at work. He entered the place and sat down in the stairs, waiting.

-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --

"I'll see you tomorrow Colonel, sir, goodnight," said the man who drove the car. Roy just nodded and watched him go down the street, then walked to enter in his house.

The dark haired man took his keys out and unlocked the door, closing it again after entering. When was about to turn around, he saw something and summoned fire to attack. The figure jumped.

"Come out and fight, bastard," Roy said, ready to use his fire again.

Pride was in the shadows. The sin summoned his scythe and got ready to attack. The place was very dark, but he could easily fight in the dark.

Roy found him then threw a wave of fire. Pride used his scythe to block it and then he sent a wave of fire, too.

"What!" The Flame alchemist eluded the attack "What are you!"

"You humans call me _sin_" the blond said. "Others call us _homunculu_s." Pride got ready to strike again.

"One of those monsters, so that's why you can copy attacks."

"That's one of my powers, but I prefer to use my scythe." Pride struck with another attack and Roy got away from it and hit the light switch. Everything came clear and suddenly, the flame Alchemist was not moving, just staring at the sin. "Ready to die?"

"Full Metal, is that you?"

"What?" Pride couldn't help it. He remembered his dream, the voice that was talking to him was the same one in his dream, the second one.

"Edward?"

When Pride heard that name, he dismissed his scythe because a wave of images appeared in his head, and it felt like if he was being pierced with a million needles. He hugged his head and fell to his knees.

Roy stared at the boy in front of him, the shape of Edward Elric, dressed in a strange way, the marks in his body and the most important Ouroborous on his shoulder.

The pain was gone; Pride opened his eyes to find Roy Mustang's dark ones, the colonel kneeling in front of him.

"Who are you?…" the sin asked, but before the Alchemist answered, another way of pain hit him and then everything was dark.

-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --

Roy placed the boy on his bed, unable to believe what was happening, this boy was a homunculus, but he was very sure that the boy was Edward Elric.

"What the hell is going on…?" Roy sat down on a chair next to the bed. "You are in front of me… yet you're still lost."

The alchemist stood up and walked in circles around the room, then went to the place he kept his books and took one in special and opened it.

Between the pages 82 and 83 was a sunflower. It was perfectly preserved.

__

"Here," Edward said, giving Roy a book "It's for you."

"What's the occasion?" the Flame Alchemist asked, very amused, then saw the book. "How did you find it? I had been looking for this books for years!"

"There's no occasion, I just wanted to give you the damn book," Ed answered, very flushed. He was embarrassed, and he looked very cute to Roy's eyes. "And I found it because I'm smarter than you."

"Well, thank you I'm touched, but I forget something, so you aren't smarter than me."

"Ha, what else do you want?" the boy asked, looking at the book making sure it was complete.

"I'll need to get something to mark the page and so I don't lose my place." Ed blinked, and Roy looked at the surrenders and saw something interesting. He walked to the other side street and cut something from a flower box.

A big golden sunflower.

"What?" Ed looked at the flower and sweat dropped.

"My new bookmark," he said putting the sunflower between two pages and closing the book.

Pride grabbed the sheets in his forced sleep, closing his hand into a fist. He hated to dream, because he couldn't understand those dreams.

__

"I found it!" Edward Elric said happily from under a pile of books at an old bookstore. The seller was looking at him and resisting the urge to laugh, as the boy was covered in dust because he'd just dug in the pile of the most old and dusty books.

"That's nice brother," Al said, waiting for him with the bookseller. "Brother what kind of book is that?"

"I have no idea Al, it's not for me," Ed said, looking for the money while the seller was placing the book inside a bag.

"You were looking for the book the colonel wanted, the one he couldn't find in years!" Al said, remembering a conversation they had had.

"That so nice of you, boy" the lady commented. "Is this Colonel a special person?" she asked, her eyes glowing.

Ed jumped. "No, no, no! It's just for showing him how I hate him. Hey, Roy, I just found that book you've been looking for since who knows when for no special reason and surely not because I like you, how's the weather?" The boy jumped even more shaking his arms, and the seller laughed. Al couldn't help it, he laughed too. "WHAT!"

The same day, Ed restored the book's cover and walked to the place he agreed to meet Roy.

Pride opened his eyes, finding Roy Mustang in a very uncomfortable position on a chair next to the bed.

'_I can kill him right now, what was he thinking?_' The young sin took a sitting position on the bed and extended his hand in front of Roy's heart. '_Just a strike and done._'

Something flashed on the table near the bed. Pride reacted, even though it was just the flash of the moonlight against the crystal of a photo frame. The sin get ready for the strike again but looked at the picture once again.

'_What's the meaning of this?_' Pride stood up and walked to the table, taking the photo frame in his hands

A boy that looked just like him, is hair fixed in a ponytail, was wearing a blue military uniform and at his side was Roy Mustang. He looked around; there were other photographs. In those, the boy that looked like him was with different people. Roy looked annoyed in most of them, but Pride could tell that he was having a good time.

But the blond boy, he looked so happy, his eyes shone and were glad, even in those where Roy was making fun of him.

Roy woke up and saw the blond boy that looked like Ed staring at the pictures on the walls and carrying against his chest the one where he was alone with Edward.

"Who is he?" Pride asked without looking at Roy. "Who is this boy that looks like me?"

"Edward Elric," the colonel answered. "He disappeared a month ago."

"A month?" Pride looked over his shoulder. A month ago he woke up, remembering nothing about himself, and the man who created him called him '_Pride_' and said he should refer to him as '_Father._' For Pride, the world meant nothing, so he obeyed. "Father said nothing about a boy similar to me." Pride left the photograph back on the table.

"Father?" Roy was starting to worry, very much.

"Yes, the man who created me." Pride blinked. "Also, he send me to kill you." Pride raised his hand, and Roy get ready to defend himself. "But for some reason, I want you to tell me more about this Edward Elric." The sin lowered his hand

Roy stared at him, and silence filled the room again.

__

-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --

Roy was sitting on a couch in his living room, a drink in his hand; Pride was sitting in other couch in front of him, reading the report of the disappearance of Edward Elric.

"How old are you?" Roy asked, his eyes closed.

"4 weeks and 3 days." He did not stop to reading to answer the question.

"Sure you look too short, but 4 weeks?"

"My height is not important," he said. "Why are you making strange comments about my height anyway? Envy does it too, all the time." Roy blinked and took some of his drink. "This body is 16 years old. One of my brothers looks younger than me, but he's older in age, and Envy, he looks 18 and he's much older. With us, age is not important," he explained. "Father said– "

"I don't know that man, but I don't like him already…" Roy murmured. Pride was now looking at him. "He… sorry, do I offend you?"

"No." Pride returned his eyes to the report.

"Where you have you been living?"

"Father's house."

"That guy has a house?" Roy was disturbed.

"You have to concentrate on more than meets the eye." Pride turned the page. "I have to make something clear."

"What?" Roy finished his drink.

"Don't make fun of my height again." Pride had that look of Ed, but more serious, still the same.

"Whatever, Edo."

"My name is Pride."

"Pride is not a name," Roy complained, and the blond glared at him. "It's the truth." Roy walked out of the room to come back with a dictionary. "Here."

"What's that?"

"Just listen." Roy opened it and then read, "Let's see… here. _'Pride: (noun) unreasonable and inordinate self esteem (personified as one of the deadly sins)'_ See? Pride is not a name."

"…'_Personified as one of the deadly sins.'_ That's why they call me a sin… Father wants us to be a vivid version of those actions," the boy said. "He said we're born from those human sins, that's why he calls us by those names."

"Why do you obey that guy anyway? Aren't you supposed to be more powerful and immortal?" the black haired man asked.

"Yes, but…" Roy raised a eyebrow, and the blond lowered his eyes "He knows how to take us down, the special way for each one of us…" The boy closed his eyes "I don't know what to say now."

"What do you mean?"

The blond saw a clock on the wall. "I should go." Pride stood up, leaving the report on the couch and started to walk away. "I'm supposed to kill you… Father doesn't want your investigation to go on."

"There's no need to continue…" _I know what happened to Edward Elric now._

Pride blinked and turned around, looking at the door in front of him. The sin rubbed his hands, it was raining outside and when he came back to his Father without his target finished, he was sure nothing good was going to happen.

The blond was about to open the door, and then he felt something.

"Get down!" the blond screamed and Roy did it as the door was taken down.

"Who the hell _dares _to do that to my door?"

"Yo, Chibisan!" Envy said, throwing the door to him "You are just a little brat that can't do anything right, ne?"

"What are you doing here?" Pride demanded, summoning his scythe and cutting the door in two, getting away from the impact.

"You took too much time to finish your target, so I came to see what was going on, and what did I find? You were talking to your prey like a casual meeting." Envy looked at Roy. "You should be dead, you know?" The taller homunculi changed into the Flame Alchemist himself. "Why can't you stupid humans stay dead!"

When Envy attacked Roy, the Flame Alchemist used his fire to get away, but something hit him. Envy changed again, this time into Riza, and shot at him in the shoulder. When the homunculus was about to strike again, Pride use his scythe to stop him.

"What the fuck are you doing, Pride!" Envy screamed, very angry, and slapped Pride. The blond fell to the floor, letting go of his scythe. Pride put his right hand on his cheek and looked at the floor. "You really are a stupid brat, no matter what Father said, just wait a little more, it will be really sweet watch your punishment."

Pride knew his mistake too late. Envy took him by the hair and then left, taking the blond with him and leaving Roy.

The alchemist was bleeding but the bullet just grazed his skin, embedding itself in the wall. He was going to be fine, but Pride…

"Punishment?"

-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --

Pride knelt in front of Hohenheim. Envy had his hand on his head and the other pinning his arms against his back at a painful angle. For some reason, this situation looked very familiar to Pride.

"Pride… is that true?" Envy had told him what had happened at Roy's. The sin nodded. "Well, that's a shame…"

The blond saw something in his father's eyes, and _that_ make him shiver.

Envy let go of him, but the blond did not stand up nor raise his eyes, Envy was very amused, more than he could remember.

-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --

"Roy Mustang, stay _still_!" shouted Riza, at the point of hitting Roy with something on the head. A nurse was treating his injury. They were in the base of the state alchemists.

"Get done quickly with that, I have to find him."

"That boy… it's really Ed?" Riza asked, very preoccupied. Al was there, too, and the boy passed a hand through his hair and closed his eyes.

"Almost, he's a homunculus." Roy made that clear.

"Brother… that's why we couldn't find him!" Al hit the wall. "Where is he now!"

"I don't know!" Roy shouted while he was standing up, _And I don't know were to look either._

__

"You have to concentrate on more than meets the eye… Father does not want your investigation to go on."

Roy started to think. The place they were doing the investigation was near the end of the city, and about 3 kilometers away sat a very old mansion, supposedly abandoned.

"I know where to look, come on, time is running out!" Before he could get up Riza hit him on the head with a couple of books. "What are you doing!"

"The nurse has not finished," she said. "Besides, we need more information about this boy."

"I'm sure he is a homunculus of Ed, he even got angry when I made fun of his height." Roy did not look at anybody. He wanted to look for Pride and he wanted to do it as soon as possible.

While Riza, Roy and the other members of the team were talking, Al was thinking. Someone made a homunculus of his brother, and he wanted to know why.

Was Ed's soul really lost? In the past, Edward did everything in his power to help Al, and now things had taken his brother to the end of the road, losing his life, his soul, and his humanity…

"Maybe if…"

-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --

Envy was sitting on the floor. He knew his father was going to be very hard with Pride, because of that_"perfect son"_ stuff he hated so much. Maybe he hadn't thought about just how far that man was going to go.

"Just keep in that little brain of yours that this is your fault." Pride didn't move.

The blond was sitting on the floor of something like that, his arms over his head, chained to a wheel, blood dripping from his body, his hair covering his eyes.

His wounds had not healed yet; Envy knew that was because of the method his father used to punish the blond, designed especially for him.

The older sin stood up and left the room, closing the door behind him.

Pride moved a little, the pain was something he could handle, but at this rate, his wounds were still open and bleeding, and his father was very mad at him.

"But…" The blond closed his eyes and thought about Roy. "I want more answers from him."

Pride closed his eyes and let unconsciousness overtake him.

__

Pride felt something very strange. This was his body and his eyes were looking at a blond boy with golden eyes. The boy was taking him to some place outside.

"Al...what are you doing here?" Pride listened to his voice talk without him.

"Look, Brother! There's firefly grass in our garden," the blond boy said happily. Pride didn't understand anything.

"Firefly grass? What's that?" his voice asked again.

"It's a plant that has blue flowers!" the blond answered, still very happy. "Firefly grass only blooms during the night, and its petals will glow like the wings of fireflies. A legend has it that if you hold it to your chest and pray while it's in bloom, then the person you're thinking of will be able to feel it, no matter how far away he is," the blond boy explained, holding the flowers.

"Al... You actually believe in that kind of thing?" Pride wanted to say something but his voice wasn't his to control right then.

"Brother…even if we don't have this flower…if we were separated… you'd still be able to feel my thoughts, right?" Something very warm was growing in Pride's chest

"…Yes, of course I would."

Then everything went dark and Pride was alone in the middle of that darkness, the blond boy walking away from him.

"Wait, don't go!" The sin raised his hand and he saw the shackles in his wrist and then looked at his body. Bloody cuts, the shackles and the wheel that would not let him go. "…don't go!" But the boy was already gone.

Then Pride saw another thing. Near him was that blond boy that looked like him and his father.

__

"You really think it's a great loss to us? You should know we are immortal...a hundred years to us is nothing," Hohenheim said.

"Is that so…" Edward was very wounded.

"But for you, my child, your life is about to be extinguished," his father said again and the scenery disappeared.

"Those images… all of this… is this my memory?" Pride was on the floor, the chains sounding when he moved to look at his hands. "What's my true name?" Pride blinked, images of the battle flashing before him.

Al getting in front of him to save his life, then Roy; the transmutation. He sent them to another place to save them from Envy, save them from getting killed, but he didn't know what he did so he thought they were dead.

He lost his mind and then the pain stopped… on the last image.

__

"My perfect son, open your eyes. Come on my child, wake up to your immortal life, son, and wake up as Pride."

Pride was cold, his mind was black and everything hurt, why was being born so painful? A man was calling him, giving him the name of Pride_. When he opened his eyes, he saw the man and near him was Envy and the other sins._

He was alive and he felt so empty; now he knew why.

"This is me?"

-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --

The group advanced without doubt. Roy was ahead of them. No matter what stepped in his way, he would surely burn it to ashes. They entered the old mansion and searched everywhere: Al and Roy went to the basement with some soldiers and Riza.

"This should be like the last time, look for a secret door," said Roy.

"There's no need for that," said Al in a dark voice. He drew a transmutation circle in the wall and made a door. "Let's go."

Roy knew when Al was angry, and right now he was _very_ angry. They walked through the corridors looking for some clues.

"You stupid humans are just a pain!" shouted Envy's voice, and he started to fight against them. The explosions of Roy's fire hit everywhere and then a wall was taken down, another homunculus was at the other side of it.

"What are they doing here?" Lust joined the fight. "Envy!" But the other sin ignored her and continued his fight. Al was his opponent.

"I kill you once, boy, I can do it again!" The sin ran toward him.

"You didn't kill me bastard, I'm right here!" Al punched Envy hard between the eyes and sent him to the other side of the room.

Roy used his fire to stop Lust, then took her by the arm and went to another room. The sin got free of his grip and got ready to attack. Roy raised his hand.

"Tell me where Pride is," the colonel said, his voice filled with wrath.

"What can you possibly want with him?" Lust changed her arm into something sharp. "The kid's fine."

"What I want doesn't concern you, just tell me where Pride is!" Roy was ready to snap his fingers.

"You can't kill me, but I can kill you." Lust started to run towards him.

"Are you sure?" Roy smirked, and Lust stopped. "I use fire… let me ask you something, a little _sunflower_ told the that the way to kill the sins is by the punishment created for each one of them. Isn't the punishment for Lust to be suffocated by fire?" The colonel snapped his fingers. Lust screamed. The fire didn't touch her, but it was around the female sin.

"Bastard…"

"Where's Pride?"

-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --

Lust took Roy to a corridor. At the end of it was an iron door.

"There," she said. "You ended up here by yourself. I never was here." The sin walked away. Roy ran to the door, and the Flame Alchemist snapped his fingers and the door was history.

"Oh my God." At the end of the room was Pride, chained to a wheel. The Flame Alchemist ran towards him. "Pride, wake up Pride!"

The boy opened his eyes. "You?"

"What's going on? Why are you not healing?" Roy looked for a way to get ride of the chains.

"The wheel…" Pride tried to move. "I'm the sin of pride, remember? My name's Pride…"

"I've already told you that pride is not a name." Roy smiled and used his fire to destroy the chains and shackles. Once Pride was free, the black-haired man raised Pride in his arms bridal style.

When they were a few meters away from the wheel, Pride began to heal, and by the time they were in the main corridor, the blond was a little better.

"I think you can pull me down now…" the blond suggested.

"Yeah, right, that's a _great_ idea!" Sarcasm was something he was used to hearing from Envy, but hearing it from Roy was different. It raised a little indignation, but he was still calm.

"Why did you come?" the sin asked, holding Roy's jacket in his little hand. "I'm not the one you're looking for."

"Of course you are." Roy looked at him and smiled, and Pride blinked. "Let me put it this way: you just got lost on the way back home."

Pride curled up against Roy's chest while he was running to get him out of that place; he could hear Roy's heartbeat. And he liked it.

For the first time since he woke up, he smiled.

-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --

Al took Envy by the collar and raised him near his face. Riza was ready to shoot again even if that did not stopp the homunculus.

"Where's my brother!"

"You're nuts, that shrimp is dead!" Envy punched Al to get rid of him. Riza shot and Envy threw a large rock at her. She got out of the way, and the sin punched Al one more time. Just when he was about to do it again, he was covered in scarlet flames.

The sin looked at the alchemist. Pride was in his arms, the hand under Pride's knees was the one used to call the flames, and was ready to do it again.

"You son of a…" Roy snapped his fingers again and Envy screamed. Pride raised his hands and covered is ears

"That will not work," he said softly, Roy looked at him, not stopping his attacks.

"Then tell me… tell me how to kill this sin." Pride looked over his shoulder, Envy was given him that look, filled with anger and hate, and his lips were moving.

__

I'm going to kill you, stupid brat.

The image of Envy fighting against him hit his head. That smirk.

__

"Hmph Then let us settle this once and for all, OChibisan! Not letting you see your own beloved brother and guardian die in front of you, that's the most merciful thing! They'll be following you, so you won't be lonely."

Pride opened his eyes in surprise, that image again, Al in his arms, Roy trying to protect him.

"I don't want that to happen," he said softly "Not again." The sin moved his head and Roy let him stand up, still one arm around his waist for support. "Freezing water," he said finally. Envy looked very shocked. "Envy must be drowned in freezing water to be stopped."

Pride walked near Envy, and the other sin got on his feet. The flames were gone and he was recovering from the attack. Al used alchemy to stop him, but Envy punched him hard this time.

"Even if you know how to kill me, you can't do it."

"I can try." Pride clapped his hands. "I won't let you take anything else from me." The sin put his hands on the floor and the surface around envy started to change, then Pride cut his wrist and let the blood cover part of the floor. He clapped his hands again, changing the blood.

The other sin was fighting against the now freezing water that was covering him, and soon he felt a pair of hand on his shoulders, keeping him under the water, drowning him, but the other sin was stronger.

Roy joined him, taking Pride's hands and helping him.

Lust was watching this from a dark corner were no one could see her; the female sin closed her eyes.

"The boy is an imperfect homunculus, no matter what Hohenheim said…" The sin started to walk away. "Homunculus do not have souls. I wonder how he kept his."

Envy stopped his movements, but Pride kept him under that water a little longer.

"Alchemy, how?" Roy asked him, forcing the boy to let go of the sin. The blond had tears slipping over his cheeks.

"I can't do alchemy."

"Then?" Roy took the boy's chin, forcing him to look at his eyes.

"I copied it," the blond confessed. "From him." The blond looked at Al, who was staring at him, his mouth half open; he stood up and ran towards Pride, to hug him.

"I miss you so much," Al said. Pride returned the hug.

"Me, too."

-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --

The man looked at the report in his hands and smiled.

"This is correct?" he asked, and the soldier in front of him nodded.

"Yes, sir, Full Metal has been found, sir," the solider said. The man with black hair laughed a little, closing the report.

"You can go now." The soldier did. "My, my… you sure are in trouble now, Pride…"

-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --

At Central, Pride was in Roy's office. Riza brought him a blanket and covered him with it. The blond murmured a thank you and got himself comfortable in the couch. Al was at his side, just watching him.

"You remember," Roy said.

"Yes."

"How?"

"My soul was still with me when Fa… Hohenheim turn me into a Homunculus, I don't know how… but it was with me…maybe he knew it and maybe that's why I have all these Ouroborous… to seal it…"

"We should find a way to remove them," Al said "Brother."

The sin looked at him. "Yes?"

"I'm glad you're back…"

-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --

That night, Pride wanted to talk with Roy.

"What is it?" the colonel asked, smiling at the little one.

"I betrayed my creator," he said. Roy's expression changed. "I'll be killed because of that."

"I won't let it happen," Roy said, very serious. "You are not allowed to die before me, stupid full metal sunflower, remember?"

Pride smiled. "You aren't, either." Roy blinked. "I can't die before you, but you can't die before me either, quite a dilemma, isn't it?"

"You're a baka."

"And you're a jerk, didn't I tell you to not call me sunflower?" Roy laughed at this. "You know… I wish to ask you something." Roy give him tender eyes. "Could you…. Could you reveal to me my true name?"

"Pardon me?"

"This is me…and my name is?"

Roy hugged the blond. "Edward Elric." The taller man kissed the blond, the Ouroborous glowed hard and then disappeared. When he saw this, the little sin blinked several times.

"Thank you…" Ed was smiling, the homunculus with a soul was smiling.

"We still have to much to do," Roy said.

"I guess so… for now, let me enjoy this moment." He could hear Roy's heartbeat again, and that was the only thing he needed.

He could feel a bad omen, the price of betrayal was very high and he was a traitor for both his father and the alchemist, although Roy wouldn't let the military lock him in a laboratory or let his father come and get him. But the omen was still there, haunting him.

__

'The price of betrayal is death, that painful death created especially for me… I can't come back, but the military will be after me when they find out what I am…'

Pride was scared, just like Edward was, both parts of him were scared of what could happen. As Pride, he knew that his father would not forget is betrayal, and as Edward he knew that those at the top of the military could be very pleased with a study of a homunculus with human emotions.

He was feeling lost once again, but Roy had taken him out of darkness once, and he could do it again.

Right?

****

- Fin -

11th August 2005  
2:05 AM – Monterrey, Nuevo León, México.


End file.
